Answered Personally by Founder Michael S. Parker
Looking for answers about online fitness coaching, nutrition planning, habit coaching, billing, or getting started with a personal trainer online? This page covers the questions we hear most at Forge — whether you're considering joining for the first time or you're already a client.
Yes. You can book a free consultation to speak with a Forge coach directly over Zoom about our services and your specific needs. Book a consultation here.
If you book a call and don't attend within 5 minutes of your scheduled start time, your coach will end the call and continue with their day — so please reschedule in advance if something comes up.
Want to understand pricing across the industry first? See our full guide on what online personal training costs.
Every client plan is built from scratch, not pulled from a template. Our goal is to have your plan built, loaded, and reviewed within 1–3 days of enrollment. Clients with more complex nutrition needs or conditions may take 2–4 days for your coach to fully dial in.
If you enroll over a weekend, expect a short delay before your coach reaches out — most coaches aren't active on Sundays. You'll be fully engaged as quickly as possible once the week begins.
You may request a specific coach and we'll do our best to accommodate you, though we can't guarantee your preferred coach will be available or currently accepting new clients. Each coach's current availability is listed on our Meet the Coaches page. If you don't have a preference, we'll match you with a coach based on availability and your specific goals.
We coach clients worldwide, from beginner to advanced, and base every plan on your specific fitness level, goals, equipment access, schedule, and food preferences — including fat loss, muscle gain, general fitness, athletic development, and sports performance, with additional expertise in mobility, flexibility, and corrective exercise.
Your dedicated coach builds and delivers your plan through our mobile app. Every workout is built from scratch for you specifically — not pulled from a template — and progressed or revised based on your feedback roughly every four weeks, the same way we'd adjust a plan for an in-studio client.
All plans include a meal plan built around one of four paths — Balanced, Gluten-Free, Lactose-Free, or Vegetarian — written by our Registered Dietitian. Your coach may adjust your caloric or macro targets based on your progress and feedback.
The core coaching and plan quality is identical across all three tiers — the difference is how much scheduled Zoom time you get with your coach each month: once monthly on Standard, twice monthly on Complete, or weekly on Premium. Unlimited in-app messaging is included on every plan regardless of tier.
We generally recommend Complete or Premium for beginners or anyone wanting more frequent support and guidance. See full plan details and enroll here.
Sessions typically follow a three-part format: a workout/fitness review, a nutrition/food review, and general mindset coaching — shaped by your original assessment, your conversations, and any data your coach has collected along the way.
Your coach may ask you to submit a video of yourself performing an exercise, or demonstrate live on a call, to check your form and manage risk. You can send short exercise videos directly through the Forge app messenger any time.
Yes — we work with many couples, groups, and businesses. Because every plan is built around one person's specific condition and goals, each account and plan is kept separate, even within a couple or group. Plans can be upgraded or downgraded independently at any time.
We can also build custom small-group or corporate programs — see our Workforce Wellness Program for details.
Yes. Additional coaching sessions are available at $50 per half hour, individually or in packages, and are commonly used for live, real-time exercise technique correction. Availability depends on your coach's current client load — ask your coach directly if extra sessions would benefit you.
Yes. We have a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) for athletic performance and a Certified Physique & Figure Training Specialist for competitors seeking higher-level programming. Nutritional guidance for these groups stays within our defined scope of practice.
Depending on the injury and healing stage, your coach can build a plan that limits or avoids stress on the affected area, along with corrective exercise strategies to improve mobility, joint stability, and connective tissue strength.
No corrective exercise or post-rehabilitation programming from a Forge coach is intended to diagnose, treat, or cure any disease or mechanical condition — within our scope of practice, we work to inhibit overactive musculature, activate underactive muscle groups, and build functional, compound movement patterns. Learn more about our coaches' qualifications.
That's not a problem. We build every plan around whatever equipment you actually have access to — a full commercial gym, a home setup, or no equipment at all. A gym membership adds variety, but it isn't required to see real results. If you have a home gym, we'll build around it directly, and we're happy to recommend a few modest, low-cost additions (resistance bands, a stability ball) if they'd accelerate your progress.
Yes. At enrollment, you'll choose a baseline meal plan — Balanced, Gluten-Free, Lactose-Free, or Vegetarian — written by our Registered Dietitian, so you have something solid to work with immediately rather than waiting on your first coaching call.
From there, your coach personalizes your nutrition further within the Forge app — adjusting your calorie and macro targets based on your progress and feedback, and working with you on meal swapping, food logging, and grocery lists. We can also account for vegan, vegetarian, pescetarian, and paleo preferences, as well as sensitivities like shellfish, gluten, tree nuts, dairy, peanuts, eggs, and soy.
Every plan includes nutritional education from your coach, regardless of tier, since food is central to the Forge coaching philosophy. Clients also have access to a broader library of meal ideas, recipes, and nutrition education content within the app for inspiration.
Yes. A meaningful share of our clients are using GLP-1 medications like semaglutide or tirzepatide as part of their weight-loss journey, and we've built specialized coaching around that.
These medications are effective at reducing appetite and driving weight loss, but they're only one part of the picture. Without the right training, protein intake, hydration, and recovery strategy, it's possible to lose meaningful muscle mass alongside body fat — and preserving that muscle matters for strength, metabolism, long-term health, and avoiding weight regain after treatment ends.
Rather than handing you a generic workout plan, we build coaching around your specific medication, current fitness level, and goals — optimizing protein intake, resistance training, hydration, recovery, and daily habits so your body has the best chance to lose fat while preserving muscle. Our coaches stay current on the research around GLP-1s and exercise performance, appetite regulation, and long-term weight management, and we work directly with the common challenges GLP-1 users face — reduced energy, difficulty hitting protein targets, GI side effects, and shifting nutritional needs.
Whether your goal is weight loss, strength, improved body composition, or eventually transitioning off your medication, coaching is built to support the outcome you're after — not just the number on the scale while you're on it.
Your coach can help manage your account, but you can also update your payment method or plan type directly through our secure billing portal. You'll need to know whether you're a "Legacy" or "Recent" client — your coach can confirm this if you're not sure.
Yes. Log in to the billing portal using the exact email you enrolled with, and Stripe will send you a secure link to manage your plan and billing preferences. As with any billing change, cancellations still need to go through your coach directly — not the portal.
Yes — though we'd genuinely like the chance to fix whatever isn't working first. If something feels off, talk to your coach, or ask to be reassigned to a different one; we can build a program for nearly anyone, so if your current setup isn't delivering what you need, say so before you go.
When you are ready to cancel, message your coach directly in the app at least 10 days before your next billing date, in writing, and they'll take care of it. Cancellations can't be processed through the billing portal.
One honest expectation on our end: Forge isn't a quick fix, and results depend on real, consistent effort on workouts and nutrition — we'll do our part to guide and support you, and we ask that you do yours. See our full Terms & Conditions.
Possibly. Many HSA/FSA plans reimburse fitness and nutrition coaching when it's prescribed by a licensed healthcare provider to treat a diagnosed medical condition. Coverage varies by plan, so check with your HSA/FSA administrator directly — eligibility is ultimately determined by your physician and your benefits provider, not by us.
Forge can provide itemized monthly invoices, payment receipts, a description of coaching services, coach credentials on request, and documentation to support a physician's Letter of Medical Necessity.
Yes. Forge is a U.S.-based small business, and all prices on our website are listed in U.S. dollars. If you're paying from outside the U.S., the actual amount charged in your local currency will depend on the current exchange rate and any taxes or fees your bank or country applies.
Michael S. Parker has 25 years of experience in the fitness industry and is a former college instructor of Advanced Fitness and Nutrition Sciences at Bryan University. Collectively, the Forge coaching team brings 60+ years of combined coaching experience.
Every Forge coach is certified through nationally recognized bodies including the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM), the National Exercise and Sports Trainer Association (NESTA), and the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA-CSCS). Our Registered Dietitian is licensed as well (License #86147642).
Fitness and nutrition advice online varies enormously in quality, and not every online trainer or coach is certified by a nationally recognized institution. We think that matters, and we built Forge around real, verifiable credentials rather than a single certification earned over a weekend.
Everyone starts from a different place, physically and psychologically, and the body you'd see in a marketing photo isn't yours. We'd rather you measure your progress against yourself than against someone else's genetics, timeline, or starting point — that's the real measure that matters.
We choose not to participate in the comparison-driven marketing culture that much of the fitness industry runs on. Be the best version of yourself, not a version of someone else.
No, and that's a deliberate choice. Every Forge plan is fully custom from day one, built by a real, credentialed coach — there's genuine time and expertise behind it from the moment you enroll, not a static template. A free trial period would undercut the personalized nature of the coaching and the experience behind it.
In our experience, a real commitment tends to produce a real result. If you're still deciding whether coaching is right for you, a free consultation is the better place to start — no pressure, no obligation, just a conversation about whether it's a good fit.
We don't offer a blanket money-back guarantee, because your results ultimately depend on your own consistency — showing up for workouts, managing nutrition, sleep, and hydration, and following your coach's guidance. Every program is also fully custom, which carries a real cost of labor on our end from day one.
What we can guarantee: if you're ever dissatisfied with your coach or your experience, reach out and I'll personally review it and work to make it right. Every client has direct access to me at info@forgept.com.
Forge tends to be the right fit if you're done with fad diets and fitness gimmicks, ready to commit to your workouts and track your results, want direct communication with a real coach, and want a professional in your corner for motivation and accountability. See our full Terms & Conditions.
Programs or influencers promising results in an unrealistic timeframe tend to distort what's actually reasonable to expect. We'd rather you measure progress by body composition, fat loss, muscle development, and strength gains — not just the number on a scale, and not against anyone else's timeline.
Results depend on genetics, how your body adapts to training, your effort and consistency, and your nutrition. As a general benchmark, a healthy rate of fat loss is roughly 1.5–2.0 lbs/week for men and 1.0–1.5 lbs/week for women — body fat, not total body weight, since muscle is significantly denser than fat. For more, see the Forge Blog.
Online coaching is ideal for frequent travelers. We can build full bodyweight plans or program around whatever equipment you have access to — the same accountability and coaching travels with you, whether you're in a hotel gym, a different time zone, or out of the country entirely.
Yes to both. Unlimited in-app messaging means you can reach your coach any time, and Forge coaches typically reply quickly. Scheduled phone/video calls follow your specific plan's cadence and need to be booked in advance.
We also encourage clients to share their progress — tag @forgefitcoach on Instagram or Facebook and we'll often repost your workout, reel, or story. There's also a client-only community forum inside the mobile app where you can connect with other Forge clients around the world.
Yes. Information about Michael S. Parker and Forge Fitness and Nutrition Coaching is available to media for promotional use — reach out directly for press materials.
Four commitments guide how Forge operates, top to bottom:
Every team member is trained to deliver on our principal values, and we continuously adopt industry innovations that improve the safety and quality of what we deliver to clients.
A safe, honest, and professional experience for every client, without exception — with requests handled promptly and communication kept open.
Full integrity in every transaction and service description, accurate record-keeping, and protected client privacy — a transparent, low-pressure sales process, always.
Programs built on scientific rationale for your specific condition and goal, delivered safely, with every coach maintaining current, nationally accredited certifications.
Updated July 2026
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